A Breaking Story
by RouthFan
Summary: Pre Man of Steel  currently filming Lois has had a dry spell at the Daily Planet and is positioned for a demotion. In an act of desperation, she makes a trip to Smallville Kansas on a tip that a flying man exists.


**Title:**A Breaking Story

**Rating:** PG

**Word count:** about 3,000

**Warnings/Spoilers:** None

**Summary:** Lois is positioned for a demotion at the Daily Planet and in an act of sheer desperation, makes a trip to Smallville Kansas on a tip that a flying man exists.

**Author's Notes:** This oneshot is from a fanfic challenge at Eyesskyward and the prompt word was "break." Although I'm an SR fan and most of my fics are SR based, this is not. And in fact, is pre- Man of Steel(the Superman film currently in production.) That being said, I do wish the SR storyline and Brandon Routh in the role of Superman were allowed to continue, but this prequel of sorts, just fit the prompt better. Some of the plot lines are a bit inspired from the Smallville TV show. If you watched the show, you'll know which ones.

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><p><strong>A Breaking Story<strong>

A beer bottle spun listlessly back and forth as the auburn haired woman blankly stared out the dirty window. The view outside was picturesque, quaint; small town USA. A few people had passed by, but that was it, and the diner she had found in the one horse town, was nearly empty.

The classic rock tunes of Credence Clearwater Revival drifted through the air, but she was awash in thought. Her career was at a low point, most definitely. It was sad, really. No, wait. Make it pathetic. Her search for a story had grown desperate, things had been stagnant despite her best efforts and her editor had threatened her with a demotion of sorts if she didn't produce something that would be a "hell of a page turner," his words to be exact.

_"So you're going to move my desk to the basement?" Her expression was less than enthusiastic. _

"_It's a possibility…" the editor trailed, with the thinly-veiled threat.. _

"_It's a place where reporters wither and die, Perry. You know that." _

_He shrugged. "Lois, you've been having one hell of a dry spell." _

"_I know. But I'm working on something," her eyes lit up as she recalled an email that had been sent to her. It was a stretch, but still. It was something. She knew she was grasping at straws. So be it._

"_I need reporters who can produce. Stories keep up circulation, circulation keeps up revenue, and revenue…"_

"_Keeps the lights on and money in our pockets," she completed as her eyes rolled. She nodded. "Right." _

"_I need something soon," he stated. "And something good or I really don't have much of a choice."_

"_I'll get something to you by the end of the week, but I need a few days to fly to Kansas and sniff around on something."_

"_Kansas?" His brows furrowed. _

"_Yeah, Kansas. Just trust me."_

Lois continued to stare out the window, absent-mindedly picked at her cuticles and shook her head. "I am in the middle of nowhere," she mumbled to herself and her reflection in the picture window "and so far nothing. Just great." She glanced up at the blue skies and began to question her sanity.

The guy who had tipper her off and who had drawn the reporter to a town fittingly named Smallville, with a headline that bordered on a tabloid feature in nature, had better materialize soon.

Lois pulled her phone from the back pocket of her worn jeans, pulled up a grainy and probably photo-shopped image of a man defying gravity. Hours of traveling by plane and automobile had somehow cheapened the photo that had initially sparked her interest and it had lost a great deal of the allure that beckoned her. She had a sinking feeling that her career at the Daily Planet had hit the skids and she was in the makings of a downward spiral.

"Can I help you, Miss?"

Lois looked up in the direction of a man's voice and felt her stomach lurch as an incredibly blue set of eyes searched her in question.

"Excuse me?"

"Can I help you?" He repeated himself, while standing ready and waiting at her table in the diner.

"Are you the man who sent me the photo?"

His head shook. "No, I just work here. Would you like anything, another beer perhaps? Looks like you're almost dry."

"Oh, right. No thanks, but I'll get something to eat." She found herself a bit flustered. On an empty stomach she feared the beer had gone to her head. Lois looked at the menu.

"I'll go ahead and place your order. Your waitress will be back in a few minutes. She's on break. I'm sort of just helping out around here, you see the owner…" he stopped himself and shook his head. "Sorry Miss, sometimes I ramble…" he shifted, pulled a pad of paper from the back pocket of his worn jeans and began to write down the order.

"Well, then, a hamburger sounds good," she answered. "Everything on it and a salad on the side. So, you're sort of helping out here," she echoed. "It seems like you're doing alright moonlighting as a waiter."

He shifted in place and the corner of his mouth turned upward at the compliment.

"The owner is a family friend. I'll be moving to Metropolis soon. I recently came back from overseas. Since I moved back into town here for a bit since I'm in-between jobs and figured it's just as good a place as any to spend my time." He smiled. "I like to keep myself busy and my Mom sure doesn't mind the company."

Although she didn't often have lengthy conversations with random waiters, Lois found the natural flow of their conversation and the ease about the man refreshing in comparison to the lack of warmth in Metropolis. Small talk was better than staring out the window berating herself and her rash judgment on a lead that was evolving into a dead end.

"Have you been to Metropolis before?" Her interest increased. "It can be a tough town, especially if you don't know what you're getting yourself into. It's a lot different from here, you know," she laughed bitterly.

"I'll be alright, I think. I'm just waiting to hear about a few jobs I've applied for. I think one will pan out though, at least I hope it will."

"Ah, well good luck."

"Oh?" His eyebrow rose.

"Yeah. It can be a man-eat-man world out there. But I hope your situation works out in Metropolis."

"Thanks," he smiled and she had to admit, her insides melted. He was devastatingly handsome. There was just something about him. If she wasn't in a committed relationship, she might have been interested.

"I'll get your order in, sorry to talk your ear off, it's just that it isn't very often strangers come through here. It's nice to learn a bit about people, Miss…"

"Lane."

His expression brightened. "Lois Lane?"

She nodded. "The one and only," she sighed. "For better or worse."

"You work at the Daily Planet, right?"

"That's right. Best newspaper in the world," she recited, albeit without much enthusiasm.

"Well, maybe I'll be seeing you in Metropolis. I'm waiting to hear about a position there. A reporting job, in fact."

She smiled in contrast to her cynical tone. "Good luck. It's a tough paper to break into. Take it from me. And even harder to stay afloat. It's definitely not a place for the faint of heart. You've got to have a thick skin and a nose for journalism."

"I've got a little experience. I did some freelance overseas here and there.

"Good luck." _And you've got about a snowball's chance in hell making it._

"Well, if I get the position, I'll have to look you up, Ms Lane."

His optimism was almost tragic. But she wouldn't completely rain on his parade and simply nodded.

"Well, thanks for listening, anyway. I'll be getting that order in, Miss Lane."

"Lois," she smiled.

"Right, Lois," he grinned and disappeared behind the double doors that led to the kitchen.

She drummed her fingers on the counter Formica table and watched a man cross the street and enter the dinner. He approached her and made himself comfortable in the chair across from her. He seemed bursting with enthusiasm. And was every bit of nineteen, maybe twenty.

Immediately Lois felt her choice to investigate this tip was going to be a tragic mistake, and the undoing of what started off as a promising career.

"You had better be the guy who dragged me the hell out here in the middle of nowhere," her expression darkened as she threatened him. _Please tell me I didn't shell out my hard earned cash for a car rental and plane ticket to Kansas for this guy. _She had a sinking feeling she was the ass of a bad practical joke.

He stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you Lois Lane. And yes, I'm the one who sent you the picture. I'm telling you, this is the story that is going to break your career wide open."

"I'm fairly accomplished as it is, kid," she grew defensive.

The young man dug into his back pocket, pulled out his phone and pulled up an image that mirrored the one that had popped up in her in-box. At least he didn't waste her time. Right to the point. She could respect that.

"Yeah, but this is going to put you in the stratosphere. Real Woodward and Bernstein type stuff."

"You'd better have more than that. Anyone can Photoshop something to look like a guy defying gravity."

"I know." He grinned. "And yes, I have more." His fingers flew across the touch screen and he turned the screen to Lois. "I was coming home from a friend's house, about ten miles outside of town, and I saw this…" A shaky video showed a man hovering above the cornfields, turned his head to the sky, and shot upward at an amazing pace. "This man flew. I saw it with my own eyes."

Lois's heart began to beat faster as she watched the video play again. She began to doubt the ability of an amateur to make such a realistic shot with a home computer and software that could be purchased at a computer store. It was possible, of course, but still, suddenly her choice to come to Kansas didn't seem such a poor one after all.

"Where did you say you saw this?"

She withdrew a note pad and leaned forward with interest.

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><p>Lois had often been able to pride herself on sniffing out a pile of manure a mile away. And something about this kid's claim seemed legit. Albeit, she remained highly skeptical. But she was already here, and figured it wouldn't hurt to look into the matter further. Her career was as good as dead if she came back to Metropolis with nothing. Perhaps she could always work the angle of teens attempting to pull of a hoax of a flying man.<p>

So far, all she had was rough camera work from a teen, and every respectable adult she had interviewed stating to the contrary. There was no such thing as a man that flew, at least around Smallville according to the locals. So far, everyone had denied witnessing anything similar to the camera footage she had seen.

Despite all of the head shaking and lack of confirmation to the teen's story, there was just something about it that made her interested. However, Lois wasn't exactly sure if it was reporter's intuition or just desperation for some sort of a break on a lead to produce a story and save her career.

Her mind splintered in the various directions she could spin her investigations as the rental car continued further from a farmhouse near the location the teen had given her. She was lost in thought and disregarded the clouds that darkened the horizon toward which she was headed.

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><p>The back door to an old farmhouse's kitchen groaned on the worn hinges as it opened and the waiter from the diner entered. He and found it oddly empty. "Mom, I'm home," he called.<p>

Nothing.

"I'm back from Pete's Diner. Hello?"

He heard the ceiling overhead squeaking as a pair of footsteps traveled across it, then down the stairs into the living room.

"Sorry, Clark," His mother tucked a stray piece of greying hair behind her ear. "I hadn't heard you. I was upstairs. I'm glad you took the truck, did you hear the funny noise it was making?"

"Yeah, I left it at Paul's place to be fixed."

Martha's brow furrowed in concern. "I hope he gave you a ride back home," she warned. "You didn't run or _fly_ back here, did you?"

"No, Mom. He gave me a ride. I told you I was going to be careful about that."

"Not careful enough, son," she sighed and sat on the couch.

"I'm always careful," he laughed. "I'm sorry Mom, but I can [I]fly[/I]. Do you know how [I]_amazing[/I] _that is? I'm not going to avoid doing it."

"Yes, Clark. I know it's amazing. No one else on earth can fly like you and it's something new to the both of us, but…" she trailed as her voice was heavy with worry. Martha looked out the window at the darkening sky.

"But what, Mom?" He sat next to her.

"But someone saw you." She turned to him. "Someone saw you, recorded it on a camera on their phone and sent it to a reporter. A reporter from the Daily Planet was here about twenty minutes ago asking if I had seen a flying man."

"I'm assuming you said no."

"Of course. I don't want a reporter sniffing around here or this town and I'd like to think our neighbors would protect us, considering most of them are family anyway, but still. Clark, if she were to figure out it was true, who knows who would be here wanting to take you away and run all sorts of experiments on you?"

"Why would people want to do experiments on me? Just because I can fly?"

"No, Clark," she sighed. "There is something your father and I never told you."

Clark's stomach sank as the wind began to pick up outside. Tornado sirens at the school a few miles away began to sound.

"Clark, we've got to get to the cellar…"

"Mom," he remained seated on the couch. "What is it that you never told me?"

"We tried to protect you the best way we knew how," she hurried to grab the flashlight and led the dog to the cellar door. "Come on, Clark,"

"I can run at nearly a blinding speed, I can't be hurt by anything, I can hear things miles away, I can see through things and I can _fly_… Tell me, mom."

Her shoulders sagged. "This isn't exactly the time. There's a tornado warning, Clark. Come on." She turned and ran down to the basement. Clark followed.

"Yes, yes it is. It's the perfect time to tell me. Why would you be worried that someone would come to take me away and do experiments on me?" I know I'm not normal, Mom. It's pretty obvious and we both know I'm different."

His mother combed back her hair and looked him squarely in the eye. "Clark, you know you're adopted."

"Yes. I know I'm not from around here."

"Clark, you're not even from this planet."

"Funny."

"I'm not joking, Clark. As much as your father and I loved you, we knew at some point we'd have to tell you.

"I'm from another planet? Seriously."

She nodded gravely. "We had found you in a field during the meteor shower. You were a few years old.

"How could you be so sure I was an… not from earth?" He found the word "alien" hard to say.

"We also found your spaceship."

He froze as his jaw fell open in disbelief. Clark sat down on the dusty chair and allowed his head to fall into his hands.

A woman screaming echoed in his ears along with the roaring wind of a twister.

His head jerked up and turned to look up through the floor boards. They melted away and his heart began to race when they spied a thick black funnel cloud that churned across the field toward the highway.

"There's a twister a few miles from here," he commented. He knew his Mom always wondered what he heard and saw.

He looked back at his mother. "I've got to go. We'll talk later."

He desperately wanted to stay and hash out the details of his origins considering the incredibly shocking revelation that had just occurred. But he knew saving someone from certain death was far more important.

"But Clark, you just said there's a tornado, stay put!" She pleaded.

"Someone's in trouble and I can't just sit here and do nothing. I have the ability to save them and if someone sees me in the process, so be it."

Before Martha could reply, he sped up the stairs and out of the house at nearly a blinding speed. Clark became a blur racing toward the direction of town and as he approached the funnel cloud that was churning across fields toward the highway he paused. Concentrating, the young man propelled himself into the air, rocketing toward the monstrous cloud of swirling debris.

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><p>Lois screamed and became paralyzed with fear as the dark funnel cloud spun closer and closer to the highway. She was trapped. As the roaring wind became deafening, she heard breaking glass, felt her ear drums pop as her car lurched upward into the sky. She clung to the steering wheel as she felt her body pulling against the seatbelt. Suddenly, she felt the constraints of the seatbelt snap and Lois felt herself being pulled upward; the tornado pulled her up and through the sun broken sunroof. Her throat burned as she continued to scream.<p>

Everything went black.

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><p>Sunlight warmed her aching muscles, it felt lovely. Lois opened her eyes to blinding sunlight and blinked, rubbed her eyes attempting to sweep away the fuzzy vision. She was completely disoriented. As Lois gained alertness, it became clear she was in the middle of a wheat field, and everything came rushing back to her. She had been in a tornado, and suddenly, she wasn't.<p>

Lois looked up at the seemingly benign blue sky that stretched across the horizon. It gave no indication that a violent line of pop-up thunderstorms had been spawned in the late spring afternoon except for the wet ground and downed power lines that had been left in its wake. She stared out across the horizon and began to ponder how she had escaped death, when a shadow shifted in the corner of her vision. Her body froze and Lois shifted her eyes to the shadow; it was a shadow of a person standing behind her.

Quickly, Lois spun around and blinked in the blinding sun to see the silhouette of a man at her back. Before she could speak, the dark figure bent his knees slightly and shot straight into the air, rocketing upward and disappeared into the blue sky.

As her hands trembled, she began to fumble in the pockets of her jeans, praying that her cell phone had survived the accident. As she found it, she let out a silent prayer of gratitude that it had remained tucked into the front pocket and still worked. After a few failed attempts to dial the phone, her fingers finally cooperated.

"Perry! It's Lois. Stop the presses. You are never going to believe what just happened to me. I've got the story you've been waiting for!"

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><p>The ground fell away as Clark soared upward, toward the few clouds that remained of the storm. He tilted his head back, inhaled deeply and his flight slowed until he simply floated above it all.<p>

Clark reveled in the freeing sensation that his body experienced when he flew. It was as if he was meant to soar into the sky, such as a bird was meant to do or a racehorse yearned to run. The exhilaration was a sensation akin to no other.

He pondered the ironic situation that had found him; a journalist with the power to expose his abilities and disrupt his family's quiet life was the person who he had rescued in the tornado. Clark's nearly perfect memory recalled Lois Lane had been conscious during the ordeal as her car was flung further up into the twister until he had reached her and as he was pulling her through the sunroof, she fainted.

Rescuing the reporter felt right; it gave him a sense of purpose. But he knew he had been lucky. Clark should have left immediately after he had pulled the woman from the twister, but he felt obligated to remain nearby to ensure she was alright. He had tried to use his x-ray vision to examine her body to determine if there was severe internal bleeding or if she had broken any bones, and didn't think she had, however his knowledge of the human anatomy wasn't as keen as a physician, so he remained close in case he had been mistaken. Thankfully, when the female journalist came around, the bright sunlight seemed to have blinded her and he was fairly certain she wasn't able to identify who he was.

As Clark made his way through the sky toward the farm where he lived, he decided that if he were fortunate enough to land the reporting position at the Daily Planet, he would need an alias, another identity of sorts and do his best to keep his distance from Lois Lane, otherwise it would be a rather short time frame before she could determine that the flying man who rescued her was none other than one of her co-workers.

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><p><strong>Please leave a review, thanks!<strong>


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